The Adventures Of An Artist.

Warm Holiday Wishes And A Happy New Year Of New Realizations On The Horizon…

Warm Holiday Wishes And New Understandings On The Horizon…

First of all, allow me to apologize for not having taken the time to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy Hanukkah.

All of you have been in my thoughts, but I’ve been taking a break from writing and have been delightfully immersing myself in the healing and energizing vibrations of my rural home by the Hokianga Harbour, NZ.

It is SO nice to be home again.
In my studio, I sit and paint colorful butterflies which merge and evolve into a multidimensional divine being, which is the essence and the very core of our true Nature as human beings.

The colorful butterflies represent the diverse beauty of individual human beings, all merging into one collective Divinity.

I regret that I cannot add an image of the painting to this post, because it is still very much at the beginning stages, and not nearly complete, despite the fact that I have been working on it, on and off, for six weeks now.

Most of my time, I’ve been spending in our garden, pulling out six month old weeds.
We’ve cleared the veggie patch of weeds and planted berry bushes, which have a chance to survive and thrive while we are in Colorado or when we travel.
We’ve planted Boysenberry, Blackberry, Gooseberry and Loganberry along with cucumbers and tomatoes.

I’ve even built a wooden structure around the garden bed, and covered it with netting to protect the berries from being eaten by the birds.
There are many birds around our garden who would absolutely LOVE those berries.

While I am in the garden, knowledge comes into my mind in waves of concentric consciousness.
All I need to do is to stop my stream of mundane thoughts, and simply listen.
I sit and listen as often as I can.
I take my tea and sit in front of the harbor, listening to the wise notes carried on the wind….
They reveal so much….

This place for me, is a spiritual playground with great water views and a lovely garden.
I learn SO much while being here….
It is truly a spiritual playground…. a mixture of a zen temple with all the mental discipline and physical work it requires, and a garden of Eden, in which we get to be architects, artists, workers and designers of the garden, and create our environment, entrusted with stewardship of the land…

The people who are called and attracted to live in our tiny rural community, have always been an interesting mixture of creative and inspiring souls.

Today I’d like to tell you about one of our neighbors, Linda.
I’ve always liked Linda and admired her for her intelligence, high morals, sophisticated humor, highly developed sense of social justice and understanding of humanity’s unity and interconnectedness, as well as for her great regard for the environment and respect for the sentiments of others.

But there is yet another reason that I like Linda and enjoy her company…
It is because she sheds spiritual light on my understanding of the Jewish religion.

You see, I was born to a Jewish family in the land of Israel, but the orthodox Jewish people in Israel, have turned my heart stone cold towards the religion and its inconsistencies.

As a kid I attended a weekend seminar, intended to encourage kids who grew up in secular families, to “return” back into the warm folds of the religion.
It included lectures and questions and answers.

My heart turned colder and colder instead of warming up to the religion.
With a creeping realization, I felt that I belonged to a sexist and separatist religion, and I marveled at how fanatically they encouraged men to say:
“Pray and gives thanks daily, that you were not created a woman.”

But the last straw of that workshop, was when the rabbis told us that the world was created five thousand seven hundreds years ago.

With the innocence of a child, I persisted and pursued the question:
“How could you say that the world was created only five thousand years ago, when I’ve just been to the archeological museum and seen dinosaur bones that date back millions of years?”

I was ignored repeatedly, but somehow, I kept holding my hand up in the air, demanding not to be ignored.

The rabbi finally relented, and with anger said:
“Everybody knows that those “dinosaurs bones” are just plastic and are not real at all!”

I looked at him stunned, as if he had physically slapped me on my face.
I got up from my seat on the floor and walked out of the room, never to return.

And…. to be honest, until I met my neighbor Linda, decades later, right here on the shores of the quiet Hokianga Harbour, I have not heard ANYONE speak about and explain the religion in ways that made spiritual sense to me.

Linda belongs to the “Institute Of Jewish Spirituality,” which thrives in Woodstock, New York.
She has been traveling back and forth between NZ and Woodstock, accumulating tremendous spiritual wisdom, that is based on the Jewish tradition.

Linda and I have not spoken of the religion often, but the few times we have, she gave me much to think about, and it always felt like a true gift to me.

The whole reason I feel motivated now to get out of my self imposed silent retreat, is to share with you yet another gift, that came out of my recent conversation with Linda.

Once, in one of my spiritual visions, I saw that Linda and some of her spiritual friends from Woodstock, belonged to the Essene community that lived quietly and almost secretly, in the land of Israel thousands of years ago.

The Essenes, who were very instrumental in the early education of Jesus, lived in Israel in rural communities, and cultivated the land, leading simple and wholesome lives full of spiritual understanding, assisting greatly in the growth and development of the human psyche.

Anyway, Jules and I invited Linda to celebrate Hanukkah and Christmas together, and we had a nice lunch with relaxed conversation that meandered here and there, touching on many subjects.

One of the subjects that we talked about was the fact that here in New Zealand, the European people who colonized the land believed that the Maori, the native people, had no written language.

While, granted, they had no lettering made of tiny circles and straight lines, curves, dots and symbols, they had indeed an encoded language which they wove into their weaving and engraved into their tattoos, using patterns and symbols.

These “hidden messages” were not understood by outsiders who tried to “read” those weavings or tattoos, but nevertheless they were clearly understood by other tribal Maori people.

They knew exactly where the flax for their weaving was collected, what tribe the weaver was from and what those symbols meant or intended to represent or convey.

Even though they had no written history, they could orally recite with extreme accuracy and with nearly no variation, information from all over NZ.
They could recite historical details, names, tribal information, stories and facts, dating back a thousand years.

How could they do this????
They have a tradition of “Memory Keepers.”

The individuals (usually trained since childhood) who were selected to be the “Memory Keepers,” used to be told certain stories, detailed facts and historical details, so that they could commit it all to memory.

While other kids went to sleep after a busy day of fishing and playing, the “Memory Keeper” was gathered into his grandmother’s arms, and fell asleep while she was WHISPERING the history of his people into his ears….

Perhaps the most wonderful story Linda shared with me, is that of a Maori elder who was asked to draw a map of the Far North of Northland, NZ.

On the sand, he drew with extreme accuracy a detailed map of the mountains, forests, lakes, rivers, gorges, mountain passes, bays and beaches.

There were, however, two straight lines that the settlers did not recognize.
Surely the Maori elder did not draw a highway, since highways did not exist on the land at that time….

“It is the path that the souls of the dead take, on their way to Cape Reinga where they depart towards Hawaiki, our paradise,” answered the elder.

“You see,” said Linda, “they wisely saw no separation between the physical world and the spiritual world.”

I absolutely LOVE this true story.

On a map describing the physical landscape, this wise Maori elder painted the spiritual lines along which the Spirit travels towards the Cape, with sincerity and conviction that shows the solidity of his faith.

I often find people giggling, or looking at me with disbelief, when I suggest to them that they must NEVER view themselves as being sixty or seventy or eighty years old.
You must think of yourself as an immortal being.

If you must doubt, at least think of yourself as an immortal being who took on a body sixty or seventy or eighty years ago.

You see….
You ARE spirit.
Your reality is ONLY spirit
Spirit is eternal, immortal, unlimited and all encompassing.

Therefore, you are perfect,
Complete,
Immortal
Unlimited
Living in a state of grace forever.

Like the Maori elder, make no separation between your core beliefs and your physical reality!

Many people just do not believe that they are spirit, and thus they live in a state of fear and confusion, forever in a vain search for bits of power.

This is why they often feel helpless, angry, dis-spirited (without Spirit) and do not demonstrate Grace in all of their affairs.

Later, when I meditated, I entered a state of spiritual expansion.

I LOVE when that happens, because it is when I hear the Voice for God within me, with the most clarity.
She gives me ideas and offers suggestions, many of them so practical, worldly and helpful, that it is almost stunning.

I feel tempted to tell you about the time when She told me how to fix the rain gutter diverters that I had installed, but some of you might think that I am crazy or being sacrilegious; after all, Divine Mother must not be at all concerned with rain gutters, when She has so much to do in the world…..

But I will NOT take that detour now, because I want to tell you about the realization that came to me in that specific meditation.

You see, I got a new understanding of the TRUE reason for “colonialism.”

On the surface, it might SEEM that they have come to conquer, but in TRUTH….They came to LEARN.

Yes, I will say it again:

They have come to LEARN.

On the conscious level, they do not know any of it.
They believe that they came looking for trees, for the giant Kauri, because you can build a whole sailing vessel from one giant Kauri.

On the surface, they came to seize fishing rights and to exploit resources, but in Truth, they came to LEARN.

And even today, they send their nuns to “help” and to “save” the un-cultured natives, but in truth, they also come to LEARN.

OK….
You might be thinking, but to learn what?

To learn practical energetic methods, of how to progress in spirit so we can better improve the whole human race.

You see, we seem to live in a world that believes that human beings have VERY limited, and ever diminishing capabilities and capacities.

Dis-eases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s are a demonstration of how little we think of the human potential.

But we have a VAST and undiscovered human potential.
We are UNLIMITED beings.

Our Divine potential will never materialize, will never become a daily reality of every human being, if we will not believe, and learn, practice and exercise our Divine capacities.

It is within our capabilities to stay physically strong and heal all disease and injuries.

It is within our capabilities to memorize a thousand years of historical details, facts, songs and stories.

We believe that we live in a world in which we are overburdened with non-sense (with things that make no-sense), and we clutter our days with meaningless pursuits and noise.

In Truth, we have SO much capacity and so many capabilities, but we cannot tap into them, until we see another human being who demonstrates them to us, and only then do we realize that those are NOT theories, but true human possibilities.

With the “advent” of written history, the capacity we have as humans to memorize enormous information, is diminished.

With the use of calculators, we forget how to do long division in our minds.

With the rise of predatory behavior on the Internet, we learn to be silent and act small, because we fear other people lashing out at us, if we suggest that human beings are all One..

One family,
One tree,
One Sonship…

Just like information can be Encoded into weaving, information can be and IS encoded into the energetic and cellular fields that make each human being.

Our genetic code is ever evolving.

This is what the colonizers came to learn….

Just as Jules and I go to Japan often in order to LEARN how to be gentle and how much power exists in gentleness, so the colonizers came to learn.

They came to learn how whispering history into a human’s memory, can lead to a boy who can remember accurately hundreds of years of events.

The map on the ground that the Maori elder drew, is to teach us that there is NO separation between the physical and the spiritual.

We must not decay with the years, but IMPROVE with time.
Like a fine wine, or an aged whisky, like runners who train a lot, or like anyone who practices tirelessly to master a skill, we MUST LEARN TO improve with time.

Time does not even exist.

Time, counting time and the passing of time are nothing but illusions.
Only change towards constant evolution exists in the relative world.

In the ultimate reality, even change is impossible.
You are as God created you.
You were created PERFECT and you shall remain perfect.
Only in the world of dreams can you change, evolve or improve.

We all rise up towards a full and complete enlightenment, or the realization of the LIGHT in us.

Make NO separation between your body, your Spirit and your soul.
You are ONE!
One complete, complex and multidimensional Divine Being, made in the image and likeness of God, to live on this earth not as a conqueror, but as a Harmless Helper of all.

How MANY people are needed in order for all of humanity to learn these lessons before we are able to reprogram and re-code the human DNA?

Only ONE.

And how MANY people are required to be the teachers?

Only ONE.

Spiritually speaking, it requires only ONE advanced teacher and ONE advanced student, both fully committed to truly comprehend the depth and the implication of these methods, in order to fully learn its significance for ALL of humanity.

And so…. on the Eve of a New Year, I have emerged from my silent retreat up in the hills of the Hokianga, to wish you all a most wonderful, loving, and enlightening New Year….

May you, like me, fill your hearts with so much love, that the small boats of fear and separation, defense and the myriad forms of illusions, sink into the ocean of Love….

4 Comments on “Warm Holiday Wishes And A Happy New Year Of New Realizations On The Horizon…”

Thank you sweet Tali, for your wise advice… a reminder of who we truly are. Much love to you and to Jules! And please let Jules know that I still think of him often with much appreciation and feel that I would have never accomplished everything without his help (just passed my comprehensive exam and a year away from completing my PhD).

Your kind words about the little bit of help that I was able to provide at an early, yet obviously important juncture in your life, really warmed my heart.

We are VERY very proud of you and of all that you’ve managed to accomplish in your life.
You are a teacher for those willing to listen, of the amazing things that can be accomplished when you listen to the spirit within, and add a strong will and determination.

If you would like, please let us know about your life now – your lovely children, what you are studying, how you’re doing. We’d love to hear!

If you are ever in Colorado (we are a few hours west of Denver), we invite you to visit and stay with us! That would be great fun!

Dear Mike,
It is SOOO good to hear your kind and generous words.
I love your choice of words that Linda is a treasure.
It is such a lovely compliment.
Thank you and all the best for the upcoming year!
Love
Tali